CFA Level I Candidates – Advice for Tomorrow

Hi Level I Candidates who are taking the exam Saturday. I’d like to offer a few words of advice for tomorrow.

On your last full day before the exam… RELAX – or if it’s impossible to relax then try not to stress too much. You’ve been studying for several months and you either know the material… or you don’t. Nothing is to be gained by cramming the last 18 hours.

My advice for the day before the exam is to review mock exams you’ve already taken, especially the questions you’ve missed; then review your STRONGEST areas. (In my experience, trying to understand your weakest areas in the final days before the exam is not as beneficial as reviewing and then completely nailing your strongest subjects.)

Knock off around 8:00 or 9:00 pm, get a good night’s sleep and be FOCUSED tomorrow. Trust your instincts. Be ready and confident. If you stay up all night trying to cram that last bit of knowledge I can guarantee you will not be 100 percent during the six-hour exam.

And for Saturday, if you find yourself in the midst of the exam struggling and second-guessing yourself remember this: in the grand scheme of things you’ll either pass or fail a small, semi-important test.

If you pass, you can take Level II in six months. If you fail, you can take Level I in six months and you already have three to five months of preparation under your belt. And either way your knowledge of finance is miles ahead of where it was from when you entered the CFA Program.

Best of Luck to all Saturday!!